Ruffnut and Eret

"This is Berk" the strong young voice rang out over the crowd. Ruffnut groaned inwardly, this sounded like it was going to be a long boring speech. She stood on her tip toes to scan the crowd around her, she was hoping to catch a glimpse of Eret's tall figure somewhere in the masses. Not seeing what she wanted she attempted to hoist herself higher using the horns of the helmet on her brother's head beside her.

"Hey knock is off" Tuffnut grumbled at her and he elbowed her off down to ground level again. Ruffnut promptly gave him a good shove back causing him to stumble into the people beside him. This of course could not be ignored and quickly escalated into a full on slapping fight and shouts at each other.

"I was here first, get your own standing place" Tuffnut yelled at his sister.

"How about I give you a black eye instead" She returned, while trying to wind back to fully swing at her brother's face.

The residents of Berk, that were all very used to the interesting and expressive relationship that the twins had just backed up from the fray giving them space to continue to beat each other. Tuffnut yanked on one of her braids pulling her head sharply to one side. Ruffnut, while bent twisted sideways tackling her brother around the waist and flattened him on his back. Standing quickly she placed her foot on his stomach and raised her hands on the air.

"Ha!" she proclaimed "I win".

"Fine, fine, whatever, just get your foot off of me". The twins stood brushing off bits of grass and dust and side by side faced towards the great hall again.

Hiccup was standing on the steps in front of the great hall. His arms were crossed and he was staring at the twins. He raised an eyebrow at them with an inquisitive look.

"Carry on" Ruffnut said with a quick grin and a mildly embarrassed blush.

"Thank you Ruffnut" He said and cleared his throat to begin again. This was his first actual public address since the battle with Drogo and the Alpha dragon had occurred, and understandably he looked nervous. He had won the respect of his people, they had seen his courage and they would follow him anywhere. They trusted him to protect their people and dragons no matter what. But he was still new at being chief and he was still young and it showed. He shuffled again and scanned the crowd. He spotted Astrid off to one side smiling and nodding at him. A few happy sighs and aww's could be heard coming from the crowd. It gave Ruffnut a grumbling feeling of jealousy in the pit of her stomach. Hiccup cleared his throat again.

" As I was saying, I know we are a kind and caring people, we accept change and thrive on it moving forward strong and united. I hope we can be the same when accepting this new change to our village." Hiccup looked off to his side and another figure stepped up to stand beside him. Ruffnut sucked in a quick breath, it was Eret, the man of her dreams. He stood tall and proud his dark hair slicked back had a gleam to it in the sun. His crossed arms showed off his well built physic perfectly. Ruffnut imagined his strong arms wrapped tightly around her thin willowy body as she stared into his dark endless eyes. His face was chiseled and well defined and she could see his jaw clench with tension. She stared at the blue tattoos on his chin again wondering what they represent. She would find out somehow.

Hiccup continued "For those of you that have not yet had a chance to meet him, this is Eret Son of Eret, former dragon trapper, fine sailor and newest member of our village. Eret is a good friend of mine and I hope he will soon be to you all as well. I have given him Dad's dragon Skull Crusher to take care of now, and I know he will fit in here nicely. Ruffnut felt her heart leap with joy! He was staying! He was staying! Now she could finally have him for hers. Hiccup was speaking again "He will be gone briefly to rejoin his crew and assist them with guiding their ship back to Berk where they will permanently make berth."

'Wait, what' Ruffnut thought to herself 'he can't leave yet, I need to convince him I'm perfect for him too'.

"I betcha he's gonna fly Skull Crusher back to his ship" her brother was saying beside her. "Oh man that would be funny to see he's terrible at dragon riding. He really needs someone to go with him. Pretty sure Hiccup didn't think of that". Ruffnut stared at her brother with her mouth gaping open. Sometimes he was a genius. 'What?" he said eyeing her look.

"We should go with him!" she told her twin.

"Na ah not happening. You just want to go along so you can make goo goo eyes at him. I not gonna watch you drool over him all day." He stared at his twins angry face and crossed arms, her foot started tapping. 'uh oh bad sign' he thought 'she's really mad now'.

"Well of course I want to go because of him. He is the man of my dreams. I just have to convince him of that." She could never lie to her brother and didn't even attempt to hide what she felt or wanted from him. "It would be good for our dragon to be out flying again. A nice long trip would make them happy. Besides if we stay behind we are going to get roped into helping with all the clean up and rebuilding , I know how much you hate rebuilding houses." She watched her twin frown and think.

"You have a point. I'll go talk to Hiccup about it" he walked away in the direction the new village chief had gone. And Ruffnut smiled to herself, then headed to the dragon dens to visit her zippleback.

As she ran down the path that lead to the dragons she rounded the sharp corner at the base of the cliff and crashed head first into a solid warm wall knocking her flat on her back, causing her head to crack sharply on the stone steps. Thanks Thor she wore her helmet almost everywhere or that really would have hurt. A warm deep voice with an off island accent greeted her.

"I'm so sorry miss are you o…..Oh it's you. Did that on purpose did ya?" She blinked up at the figure above her and recognized the man that made her shiver. She couldn't resist the urge to flirt with him enjoying how it always made him squirm.

"Is this what you do to get a woman on her back? Just knock her flying? What do you like things rough?" Eret's face turned a bright crimson and he quickly looked around making sure that no one was in earshot to hear her scandalous comments.

"Ruffnut I've told you many times I'm just not interested in you. I'm sorry you are just going to have to get over me." He recited his little speech with a steady practiced cadence. Each word twinged her heart, but she was determined not to give up on something that she knew in her heart was right.

"Well?" she said reaching out a hand "are you going to help me up or have gentlemanly manners never been taught to you."

"Like you want a man with manners" he muttered under his breath. She glanced at his face trying to catch what he had just said. He eyed her skeptically then reached out a big strong hand to grip hers. The first thing she noticed was how warm it was totally clasping her small cold hand in his. She felt the callouses on his palms and felt the strength in his grip. These were the hands of a man who had always worked hard. She felt her pulse quicken and her breathing become faster. She imagined what these hands would feel like sliding across her smooth skin. She slid her thumb across the back of his knuckles wondering about the size of those powerful hands again. She heard his breath catch and he yanked her hard towards him. He might have done it out of his irritation to her but his sharp pull only succeeded in crashing her hard against his chest. She landed against him with both palms out flat giving her plenty of him to explore with her hands. She looked up at him and he glared again at her, but made no effort to move. She could feel his big chest heave under her touch and she wondered if she had any effect on him at all. He pushed her off with both of his hands heavy on her shoulders and she shivered again at his touch. She wanted to feel all of his heat and power against her. Before the thought was even formed in her mind she acted. Years of fighting with her brother had her combat skills finely honed and she expertly shoved his hands from her shoulders hooked a strong thin leg behind his thigh and used it to hoist herself up to be level with his face while she tightly wrapped her arms behind his head. She paused for a brief second to take in his fabulous lips parted in surprise and then she crashed her mouth onto his. Heat exploded in her and she worked her mouth against his getting as much of him as she could before he tried to shove her away again. She felt him vibrate in a growl against her mouth, and felt his hands grasp her hips almost encircling them totally. She braced for his push, his anger, his rejection. Feeling desperate she tightened her grip. But so did he. She opened her eyes wide as he twisted crashing her back against the stone wall and crushed her with his weight. She gasped as the breath was knocked out of her. Her lips parted and he took advantage slipping his tongue inside tasting her. She didn't move she couldn't breath, he was kissing her back. But then he wasn't, he abruptly let go, she was dropped to the ground standing on wobbly legs. He took two steps back from her panting hard and staring at her face.

"No!" he said "I don't want you. I told you." He turned to go muttering under his breath "she's a child, Damn siren, I've just established a place here I can't screw that up now. What the hell was I thinking?" Ruffnut watched him leave cursing under his breath, hurt, aroused and confused. Her heart was still pounding out of her chest. She could still taste him on her lips, salty like the sea air. She had never been kissed before like that. It made her head spin and her chest ache, she didn't know why he had stopped but once she had a flavor of it she wanted more. She knew that she was sometimes thought of in the village as comical, her brother and her often the butt end of jokes and laughter, but it never bothered her. Yes they were fun, and funny and she often laughed loudest at the jokes even if they were about her. Rough words and insults were a way of life and often masked affection around here, so the harsh words that Eret always had for her didn't really hurt, they just amused her. If he was interested enough to resist then at least he was interested. It was being ignored that would have hurt her more. But this kiss, to powerful so intense, so suddenly ended, that hurt her. And she didn't know what to think. Shaking her head she continued to the dragon dens and found her beloved Belch and wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed her face hoping to hide the tears that threatened.

'Get it together woman' she thought sternly to herself 'don't feel weak because of a man'. She felt the second head of the zippleback Barf press into her back nudging her, and she reach to press him away

"not you" she said as he tried again. "Oh fine" and she wrapped an arm over his neck as well hugging both dragon heads at once. She leaned on both on them for comfort, and they rose up lifting her as well. She grinned nothing better than dragon love to make you feel better.